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The surface of Mars is the frontline in NASA's search for life beyond Earth, and NASA has devoted three generations of robotic, semi-autonomous rovers to this search. Through the efforts of the scientists and engineers behind the Spirit, Opportunity, and Curiosity rovers, we now know that Mars hosted watery environments that may have been habitats for ancient life 4 billion years ago. Now, planetary scientists at Purdue are working with NASA to design instruments and choose the landing site for the Mars2020 rover, which will search for signs of ancient microbial life on Mars and collect samples to return to Earth. Why is this search important, and how much can these robotic geologists do alone?

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STEW214CD

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9-24-2015 4:30 PM

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Sep 24th, 4:30 PM

Roving Mars: NASA's Search for Life on the Red Planet

STEW214CD

The surface of Mars is the frontline in NASA's search for life beyond Earth, and NASA has devoted three generations of robotic, semi-autonomous rovers to this search. Through the efforts of the scientists and engineers behind the Spirit, Opportunity, and Curiosity rovers, we now know that Mars hosted watery environments that may have been habitats for ancient life 4 billion years ago. Now, planetary scientists at Purdue are working with NASA to design instruments and choose the landing site for the Mars2020 rover, which will search for signs of ancient microbial life on Mars and collect samples to return to Earth. Why is this search important, and how much can these robotic geologists do alone?